U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday he was "appalled" by the escalation of military activity in and around the southern Gaza city of Rafah by the Israeli Defense Forces, as nearly 450,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from the area in the past week.

"These developments are further impeding humanitarian access and worsening an already dire situation," his deputy spokesperson, Farhan Haq, told reporters at United Nations headquarters. "At the same time, Hamas goes on firing rockets indiscriminately. Civilians must be respected and protected at all times, in Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza."

For the past week, the Israeli military has intensified bombardment and other operations in Rafah while ordering the population to evacuate parts of the city. Israel says it is carrying out a limited operation to destroy the militant infrastructure along Gaza's border with Egypt.

Haq said "nowhere is safe now" in Gaza, and that the U.N. chief reiterates his appeal for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire and the release of all hostages.

"He calls for the Rafah crossing to be re-opened immediately and we must have unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Gaza," Haq added.

More than half of Gaza's population had been sheltering in Rafah, with many of the Palestinians going there after fleeing the Israel-Hamas war in other parts of Gaza. Haq said the displaced are arriving at sites that lack shelter, latrines and clean water. With key crossing points to Gaza closed, fuel critically low, and aid movement at a near standstill, humanitarian workers cannot alleviate their situation.

"As we have said repeatedly, all parties must respect international humanitarian law at all times," Haq noted. "This means that civilians must be protected, and their essential needs - including food, shelter, water and health - must be met wherever they are in Gaza and whether they move or stay."

The United States, the United Nations and others have called on Israel to avoid a full-scale offensive in Rafah, warning of a humanitarian disaster there. But Israeli leaders say Rafah is the last stronghold for the Hamas militant group and an offensive is necessary to achieve the goal of eliminating Hamas as a threat in Gaza.

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced Tuesday the opening of a 60-bed field hospital in Rafah. It says the facility will provide emergency surgeries, obstetric and gynecological care, pediatric care, and outpatient services for about 200 people per day. And the U.N. says work continues to restore services at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, which is expected to formally reopen in the coming days.

UN investigating staffer's death

On Monday in Gaza, an Indian national working for the U.N.'s Department of Safety and Security (DSS) was killed, and another staffer was injured, when their marked U.N. vehicle was hit with fire on the way to the European Hospital of Rafah.

Haq identified the deceased staffer Tuesday as Waibhav Anil Kale. A female Jordanian security officer was also injured and is being treated outside Gaza, he said.

"The U.N. has established a fact-finding panel," Haq said. "It's very early in the investigation and details of the incident are still being verified with the Israeli Defense Forces."

He said what they know so far indicates that a weapon appears to have impacted the back of their vehicle. He said the U.N. believes it came from Israeli tank fire in the area.

US reaction

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during a White House news briefing Monday that President Joe Biden's administration did not view the killings of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel in its war with Hamas as a genocide.

"We do not believe what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. We have been firmly on record rejecting that proposition," Sullivan said.

Sullivan said the United States wants to see Hamas defeated, that Palestinians caught in the middle of the war were in "hell," and that a major military operation by Israel in Rafah would be a mistake.

Biden, who is running for reelection this year, has faced heavy criticism from his own supporters domestically for his support of Israel; some of those critics have accused Israel of committing genocide.

The war was triggered by the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of about 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials. Israel's subsequent counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which includes civilians and combatants in its count, but says most of the dead are women and children. Israel says it has killed more than 14,000 militants and around 16,000 civilians.

VOA United Nations correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

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